[ʃyʃɔte], shu-sho-tey : to whisper

Adventure on the warmest day of February: Tai Wai to Tai Mei Tuk

Cycling is a hobby of mine that I have missed, so much. It was something that I did everyday for three consecutive years when I was living in the Netherlands. It was my main transportation and I used to bike everyday & everywhere – school & campus, shopping to Centrum, going to cinema, etc. I would rather ride my beautiful white-purple Gazelle bike rather than any public tram or bus, unless I was not feeling well or it was winter when black ice was everywhere. However, when I moved back to Indonesia, I stopped biking. I did bring my bicycle to Yogyakarta and tried to bike for six months but I gave up. I gave up because it was always too hot, the pollution was crazy, it was extremely dangerous, and I was so vulnerable to catcall every night. So I have stopped biking for more or less two years, until last week…

My friends who are full-time students and two of them are local students gave an idea to spend our weekend with biking and then have some Thai foods afterwards. Who would say no? I definitely wouldn’t!

Firstly, we started off by meeting up at Tai Wai MTR station exit A, and around that area we could see that there were a lot of places to rent bikes. We arrived there at around 2pm, and basically my local friends did all the talking and renting process, but what I know is that at the end each of us paid for HK$ 80 per person. There was a time limit, which was at 7pm but there was no worry because we could just return the bike in our destination, instead of biking back all the way to Tai Wai.

Hundreds of bicycles around this area for rent

After each of us got our bicycles, we started to check the wheels, the break, and also adjust the seat height – then we were ready to go! There are several routes that we can take, but the one that we took was from Tai Wai to Tai Mei Tuk which stretched about 20 kms one way and people said that we could finish it in more or less three hours. I was overly excited for the cycling because I missed it so much, but I was also a bit anxious because I have never bike for that long (for more than an hour at once). I was a bit rethink my decision a night before but at the end I decided that I should take the challenge because it might be one of a lifetime chance, and as exchange student I should be open with any new adventure.

It was the best decision I have made!

It was the perfect day to bike because it was the warmest day of the month! I personally wear no jacket, only my t-shirt and a cap to protect my already-tanned face. The biking time was fun and easy because this is a popular route so the bicycle has its own paved straight cycle track. It was biking with stunning diverse view ranging from harbor front, parks, highway, temples! Pardon my poor English, but if there is one word to describe beautiful + lovely + fascinating at once, I would use that word to describe the view. Wow. I am so delighted that my friends introduced me to this activity, in Indonesian we could say this as an experience of menang banyak – winning a lot of things in one activity.

I took many many pictures, as usual, because I wanted to document everything I saw and experienced. I was biking while taking some pictures once in a while, and I am so happy that I did. We passed a river that I think is called Shing Mun river, and went through some park, and just bike along the trail but sometimes we stopped to wait for each other and have one two sip of water. The half way point of our journey marked with our stop at the Science Park, so we just left our bicycles neatly and went in to chat with each other and have some snacks.

A lot of stops used by by bikers to take pictures and have some rest nearby Science Park

After that break, the biking was even becoming easier. The air was so fresh, the view was even more beautiful, and the thoughts that we have accomplished half of the way made me happy and so I pushed myself more and more. We passed a beautiful temple that I really wished we could stop there and take a look but we could not because we had to return the bike, and then we also passed an area that I thought was the famous Big Buddha, but it turns out to be the World’s tallest bronze statue of Guan Yin who is believed as the Goddess of Mercy by the locals. It is also a place I wished I visited, but not during this biking trip – I can just come back any time.

World’s tallest bronze statue of Guan Yin

Once we were nearby, my friend pointed out an area and said that “that is the place that we will go”. It looks high and a bit far but I was not complaining at all because basically there was nothing to complain about. It looked like we were getting closer and closer to the destination, which turned out to be Plover Cove Reservoir. Once we got closer, we started to see more bike rental because many people actually wanted to start biking from this Tai Mei Tuk bike rental rather than from Tai Wai like us, especially families with little children, and this was also the place where we could return the bike. It was so cute to look at all those colorful bicycle at the rental, not only the normal one person bicycle but also a bike for two or a family big bike for two and for four. We arrived at this area at around 4.30 pm, and many people wanted to go up to the Reservoir to see the sunset.

Bike rentals along the road

We also wanted to go up and it was pretty steep so we had to walk uphill. The view was awesome! The sky was so clear, the air was fresh, I felt so good but we came during weekend, so it was pretty crowded. I took a lot, I mean..too many pictures there because it was just too pretty to miss. We also stopped and sit there for a while – and somehow talk about our group discussion :”) HAHA i love them

Another note, be careful with other bikers because although I drove well and okay, but the others might not – and that’s what happened to me. I was biking straight but then a big family bicycle suddenly went left and bumped into me and I fell to the pedestrian road right away. I was so ready to be mad until I realized that the driver was a girl around 8 year old who couldn’t control the bike, while her father was sitting at the back instead. The father did say sorry but I wanted to say something because I don’t think such a young kid should control this kind of bike without the help of the father, but I felt bad for being mad and telling things to a father in front of his kids. Thus I just accepted the apology and left right away.

A big family bike for two people – the one that hit me was bigger

Overall, it was a one in a lifetime experience – at least for me because I don’t know when will I do such thing again back in Indonesia. I totally recommend this activity!

More: Thai foods dinner

We went to Kowloon City for our dinner that turns out the area is well-known for its Thai foods. The restaurant is called Ruamjai Thai, and I think it was pretty famous as it was full of people and our table was the very last empty one.

My friends knew that Ghani and I do not eat pork, so they ordered the ones without it. We ordered five dishes including shrimp & pineapple friend rice, pad thai, Kangkung /water spinach, beef salad, and a Thai snack platter that you can see on the very right. It was all super delicious and the taste is the Southeast Asian taste that I miss so much! I definitely plan to come here again at least one more before leaving Hong Kong.

Saturday, Feb 18th was a good day. Thanks to Hyebin, Veta, Dorbe and Ghani for a day of fun ❤